North Texas Near Space 4 (NTNS-4) was successfully flown on 19 October. The plane released at the planned altitude of 101k feet, very close to preflight predictions. The plane captured aerodynamically very quickly, but did not capture roll rate due to an error in the rate feedback coordinate system. This prevented early pitch capture and resulted in a maximum velocity of 493 mph in a fairly impressive dive. The idea here was to stay well below compressibility and commanded airspeeds were much lower. The plane did achieve M=0.73. Pitch was captured at about 54k feet and the airframe experienced about 6G sustained during the pullout. Some guidance issues were present and an issue in the nav_bearing command resulted in some "snaking" as the plane navigated to the first two waypoints. The issues with the command went away as the plane turned to the last waypoint. Loiter down started at 12.6k feet and was uneventful. I landed the plane manually (FPV) but set up approach too late and had to land in the field. Some damage resulted but the plane is easily repairable. I will likely post a blog on DIYDrones containing the build log as well as GNC details.Regards,Larry G

Funky paint job on the plane . Looking pretty impressive all this stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing the video!

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus